United States Securities and Alternate Commissioner Hester Peirce — higher often called “Crypto Mother” — believes the latest motion in opposition to BitMEX could also be a get up name for crypto companies.
In an interview with “Unchained Podcast” on Oct. 13, Peirce instructed host Laura Shin that the latest fees laid in opposition to BitMEX by the U.S. Division of Justice (DOJ) and the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee (CFTC) has put the worldwide crypto business on discover about U.S. anti-money laundering (AML) and know your buyer (KYC) rules.
“I believe that the message has been coming to the business pretty loud and clear on the AML/KYC entrance, and I’m positive it’ll proceed,” mentioned Pierce.
“It’s undoubtedly sending a message to the crypto world that when there are U.S. customers of a product or a service, there’s going to be enforcement of U.S. legal guidelines.”
On Oct.1, the CFTC filed a civil enforcement motion in opposition to BitMEX and three of its executives for violating AML rules. As well as, the DOJ filed prison fees in opposition to 4 executives, together with founder Arthur Hayes, for violating the Financial institution Secrecy Act. Hayes and two of his colleagues stay at massive as of this writing, whereas BitMEX’s former chief technical officer, Samuel Reed, is out on bail.
Pierce additionally mentioned the SEC’s obvious resistance to a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Such a product would supply a regulated means for institutional traders to entry crypto with out the chance of holding the underlying property.
Although the Bermuda Inventory Alternate introduced it has authorised a Bitcoin ETF in September, that’s outdoors the SEC’s jurisdiction. The Winklevoss twins, Wilshire Phoenix, and NYSE dealer Arca have submitted proposals for Bitcoin ETFs with the SEC, and the fee has persistently rejected all of them over fears of market manipulation.
Nonetheless, Crypto Mother believes an ETF needs to be “judged by itself deserves” by the regulatory physique. Bitcoin ETFs, she mentioned, maintain quite a lot of curiosity amongst traders and might be a simple means for individuals to get publicity to the cryptocurrency.
She criticized the fee’s resistance to a Bitcoin ETF as unfair to traders:
“Prior to now I believe [the SEC has] taken an method that could be a benefit regulation method and is saying ‘we do not assume that traders could make smart choices for themselves so we’re simply going to chop this product off from them altogether.’ It simply would not make any sense to me.”
Peirce began her second time period on the SEC in August and can stay on the fee till 2025.